The Albany Gazette - USA storm into women's basketball World Cup semi against Canada

Guard Kelsey Plum added a game-high 17 points in a 88-55 pummelling of Serbia, with the three-time defending champions strong on both offence and defence.

They will meet Canada in Sydney on Friday after the world number four swept past Puerto Rico 79-60.

China face France, and hosts Australia -- the beaten 2018 finalists -- take on Belgium later Thursday in the other last-eight clashes.

The US victory made it a 10th consecutive World Cup that the Americans have gone undefeated before the last four, with coach Cheryl Reeve content despite a slow start, when they trailed for the first time all tournament, falling behind 11-7.

"I thought Serbia executed their game plan and took us out of one of our largest identities in pool play, and that was scoring in the paint," she said.

"But overall, I thought our response was really good. Once we got out of the first quarter, we adjusted a little bit and we found success ... I thought our defence was really hard to play against."

Little separated the two sides in the first frame, with the US taking a narrow 25-23 lead, shooting 57 percent to Serbia's 48 percent.

The US has been brutal in punishing errors, and they stepped up a gear to dominate around the board, building a 50-33 half-time lead on the back of a 12-0 run.

Serbia, ranked 10, was shooting just 30 percent from the field and were held to only seven points in the third quarter, going more than eight minutes without scoring, before the Americans put another 22 points past them in the fourth to romp home.

- Identity -

"Serbia really tested us, they played super physical, more physical than we have seen all tournament," said Plum.

"I felt early on their pressure bothered us, but we were able to get it under control and in the second quarter we held them to single digits, which is our identity and what we want to be going forward in this tournament."

It was never going to be easy for the Serbs, with the US on a 28-game unbeaten streak, their longest since winning 26 from 1994-2006.

The only negative was Kahleah Copper being helped off with what looked like a groin injury, after a heavy collision.

They will next meet a young Canadian team that has appeared rejuvenated this tournament under coach Victor Lapena, coming through the group phase with just one narrow defeat, against Australia.

They were too strong for Puerto Rico, racing to a 21-11 first-quarter lead then putting on another 18 points by half-time, successfully blunting the threat posed by dangerwoman Arella Guirantes.

The Puerto Ricans improved their defence and shooting percentage to come out on top of the third quarter as Guirantes got into her stride, ending with a game-high 19 points. But it proved too little too late.

(A.Lehmann--BBZ)